Bad news for country music fans—the 2025 CMT Awards have officially been canceled.
The awards show is being put on “pause” due to parent company Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media. With the deal expected to close in the next few months, it seems like the CMT Awards got caught in the shuffle.
But it’s not just the CMT Awards that are getting the ax this year. The MTV Europe Music Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Mexico have also been scrapped, raising questions about the future of these award shows.
Paramount Global released a statement saying they are “reimagining” their award show strategy and looking for ways to “optimize” their big events—which is likely a fancy way of saying these shows were too expensive and had declining viewership.
The CMT Awards have been a huge part of country music for years, celebrating fan-favorite videos and artists. The 2024 show was a big night for Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson—Jelly won Video of the Year for Need a Favor, while Lainey took home Female Video of the Year for Watermelon Moonshine.
Kelsea Ballerini also announced during last year’s show that it would be her final time hosting. Maybe she knew something we didn’t?
As of now, there’s no word on whether the CMT Awards will return in 2026 or if this “pause” is permanent. Stay tuned for updates as the future of country music’s fan-voted awards show unfolds.
